Polish justice minister resigns over gun permit

Poland's justice minister stepped down late Wednesday after coming under fire for obtaining a gun permit without taking a required test, the government said ahead of both presidential and parliamentary elections.

Cezary Grabarczyk, 55, wound up in the crosshairs of the opposition and the media after reports surfaced last week that he only took the written test to obtain his permit from a police unit in the central city of Lodz, which is already under investigation for similar cases.

Obtaining a gun permit requires the passing of both a written and practical test in Poland.

Grabarczyk said he was innocent but chose to resign because a justice minister cannot do his job while under a cloud of suspicion, government spokeswoman Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska said.

Grabarczyk had been in the job since September 2014 under centre-right Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz from the Civic Platform party.

Poland will hold the first round of its presidential elections in early May and the parliamentary vote in the fall.